I was in the manx briefly for dinner last night. Every time i go pee there (which is likely every time i go), i wonder how many times a night someone ventures into the wrong washroom. I always have to think about it and do association in my own way. This process always degrades to remembering that men have to walk slightly farther than women to do their business.
Anyone want to comment on what associations they use? I can never remember what those symbols mean or who they stand for, maybe someone can enlighten me. If i had some memory pillar to attach those symbols to i'd be less fearful of walking in on the opposite sex doing their business.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Saturday, November 3, 2007
hayden at bsi
A few of us took the country drive this past thurs out to wakefield to see perhaps my first favorite singer songwriter, Hayden.
Apparently he's been busy and just finished his new album "yesterday". It was his first show in 3 years. He didn't practice. It showed. I love the guy, i think he's great, he's still a great storyteller, but i was a little peeved at how many times he fucked shit up, or had to start over. The first time its funny and shows a bit of personality and humanity, but the 10th time its annoying and shows a lack of respect. The tickets were not cheap (18 bux i think), and its a tour to get out there. He should've practiced.
I'm sure he lost a fan or two that night. He didn't loose me, but i'll certainly think twice about going to see him the next time he's around... i'll probably go anyway. And i will get his new album. At least i know he's human. Like me!!!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Mother Mother is the best thing since sliced gluten-free bread
Myself and several accompaniments had the incredible pleasure of seeing the newest best band ever Mother Mother at zaphods last night.
We've been listening to their album for the past 6 months or so since my buddy turned me on to them after hearing them on cbc radio 3. Hot damn, they are imo the most diverse and talented sound since arcade fire, for darn sure. Its sooo good, and now i realize there is ridiculous talent as well as amazing song writing. Its hard to tell sometimes, but last night proved all.
We gushed over them all night. They actually opened for 2 other far inferior bands. Dragonette, who features Martina Sorbera (apparently the daughter of our late finance minister) either greatly benefited from accompanying vocal tracks, or was flat out lip syncing. Catchy, but not a live performance. The other dudes, Most Serene Republic or something, had some cool sounds, but very little vocal talent/hooks to keep me interested. We left mid way through their performance. No idea why the gigs were ordered as such, Mother Mother stole the show shortly after 8pm when they started in on "Legs Away" and playing half their album and 2 other songs i've never heard. In that half hour there were no other sounds in the universe worth listening to.
As i was saying, we gushed hard. After their show they were mostly just swag selling and hanging out... i bought a t-shirt as we attempted to book them for future birthday parties; tour pending, it was something they seemed quite open to. Some autographs were signed.
They're from Vancouver, and likely won't be back till next spring. We all must go again!!! YES!!!
They rule!!!! Check out some tracks on their site. Note the following picture is the best pic i could get as i was mostly too busy listening in complete awe...
Friday, September 21, 2007
up early on a saturday
If this isn't a sign of age and responsibility what is. Waking up early (its 6:22am) on a saturday morning, tossed and turned, couldn't get back to sleep. Mostly because i'm not all that hungover and i'm excited about laying the fresh cedar for my balcony today.
What do people do at 6:22am on a saturday? Is there anything to do? I think i'll see what the grinders are up to...
I will indeed be posting pics later of the balcony, it should be pretty sweet.
One things for sure, i'm not all that interesting at 6:22am on a saturday.
What do people do at 6:22am on a saturday? Is there anything to do? I think i'll see what the grinders are up to...
I will indeed be posting pics later of the balcony, it should be pretty sweet.
One things for sure, i'm not all that interesting at 6:22am on a saturday.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
nominal vs. dimensional??
One additional thing i should mention about Google Sketchup from my previous post, is that i put all the lumber sizes in in their "true" sizes. Otherwise, i wouldn't know exact distances and size of things!!! Am i not right here?
For instance, a 2x4 is not truely 2 by 4 inches. Its "about" 1.5 by 3.5 inches. How could i put in a piece of lumber that IS 2 by 4 inches into my drawings and expect sketchup to tell me the proper distances?
I understand if you measure everything "on center" you should be ok, but what about if simply want to measure the entire width of the structure?
If someone can clear this up for me i'd appreciate it.
For instance, a 2x4 is not truely 2 by 4 inches. Its "about" 1.5 by 3.5 inches. How could i put in a piece of lumber that IS 2 by 4 inches into my drawings and expect sketchup to tell me the proper distances?
I understand if you measure everything "on center" you should be ok, but what about if simply want to measure the entire width of the structure?
If someone can clear this up for me i'd appreciate it.
balcony building and getting a building permit in ottawa
Ever since i've owned my house, i've known that i've needed to have some work done to its rear end. As you can see in the picture, which was taken shortly after i took possession, theres always been a door leading to nowhere. The original owner even nailed a few 2x10's up there for me to "get started" on an awesome balcony. Thanks!!! Unfortunately after discussion and research, nailing to the side of a non waterproof surface is probably not a good idea for a structurally sound chill pad for apt. #2.
So this year, the main plan was to get er done. I started early on researching and discussing with an experienced friend of mine exactly "how" i was going to do it. I went through a few basic structures and ideas:
Build it on top of the existing structure
Build it with supports in the ground
With or without stairs?
In the end, i settled on a no stair, but extended balcony that is NOT supported by the structure underneath. Basically if it was, it would of required engineer's help to verify the integrity of that structure, and that structure was highly suspect. The previous owner did an "ok" job on everything done, and i just didn't trust it.
So late last year i realized if i was going to build a balcony up there, i should probably ensure that the roof was good. Because it would really suck to have to tear down the balcony to fix a leaky roof. And the roof was already leaky. So i had the roof replaced. Which was not cheap, but at least i trust it now. Its properly flashed all around, and is in good shape. Earlier this year, i also decided to have eavestrophing installed on the roof above the door. That part of the roof is the lowest point so a lot of water attracted down that wall, and would be onto the roof, causing more water issues. I thought that was a good idea, and i'm happy with the result.
Then came the building permit. From conception and farting around on the city of ottawa's web site to issuance, it was many months. But i got it in the end.
The problem with the building permit, is the plans. The application itself is nothing, but it must be accompanied by plans of what you're going to do. Which makes sense. But is not trivial. I do believe you can get home depot and/or rona type stores to do plans for you for "free", but i kinda wanted to do this all myself. As i said i have a friend who helped conceptualize what the thing would look like, and then i just needed a tool to put it together. In retrospect i would have been MUCH easier to have someone else do it, but i was stubborn and like doing things myself so i understand them.
Enter Google Sketchup. Is there anything google can't do? I mean this tool is amazing. In a nutshell, its a layman's CAD tool. You can design pretty much anything in it, and if you really want to, import it into google earth (which apparently has a flight sim built into it, but i haven't tried it). So if you design a house or a building, you can plop it down in the googleverse and see what it looks like. I have not done this. But what i did do, was design the whole thing in sketchup, as well as site and floor plans where necessary.
The end result is pretty sweet. After quite a few hours i developed a model of the entire balcony including every piece of lumber to be used, proper angles, railing, etc.. I thought this was a much cleaner idea than drawing up some crappy sketches that would no doubt need to be updated during the permit talks. And i was right about that!
Getting the building permit was quite an ordeal. Once the drawings were done and i had filled out the application, here's a summary of how it went down:
1) Show up at city hall on a friday morning.
2) No lineup, ask to submit an application for a building permit.
3) The lady looks it over, tells me it'll be 80 odd dollars, and calls the dude from the back.
4) The dude spends a few minutes looking it over, and takes issue with a few points. My footings were not deep enough (originally i had 4 foot holes, they needed to be 6 feet), and i needed to properly quote building code sections for the blocking and railing, or have a proper diagrams that showed screws and specifics.
5) I asked where i can see the building code
6) He said it was for sale "over there".
7) I said gee thanks.
8) I then thought about it, and decided to go to the library. They did not have the 2006 building code, but they had the 1997 + amendments.
9) I spent some serious time going through all the different schematics coming up with a now different railing plan. The lady at the library was very nice as i didn't have my card, but let me borrow one of their photocopy cards, and i just payed what i spent when i left. How trusting!!!
10) I choose a model i liked, made photo copies of all the appropriate sections, and went home.
11) I then updated my model with the footing adjustments and changes to the blocking and railing, printed it off again, and went back.
12) They accepted the application!!! Yay!!! I paid the 80 odd dollars.
13) About 6 business days later, i get an email from someone at the city that was assigned to my application. It contained a pdf of issues, which included, among a few other things, that the photocopies from the old building code needed to be from the 2006 building code. Arg!!!
14) I bought the damn 2006 building code. 150$. Now i'll have it forever. Or at least until 2012 when a new one comes out and this one becomes useless reference material.
15) I made photocopies of the newly revised sections, which looked to be identical to me, and now proceeded to communicate with this nice lady via faxes and emails.
16) We sorted out the remainder of the issues over the next week and a half, mostly to do with floor plans, and "is it a fire exit", etc..
17) Roughly a month after the initial application, i was back at city hall signing the real permit. I got my original plans and faxes stamped, and a sheet to put up on my window saying i'm a wicked permit holder.
All in all it wasn't a horrible experience, and i understand why the back and forths occurred, and i understand why you need to quote from the new building code, but they really should make the building codes available for perusal at city hall. That part is ridiculous.
Once i had the permit i was assigned an inspector. I discussed with him what inspections i need. I needed an excavation, framing, and final inspection. I have had the excavation inspection, and it went very smoothly - he didn't even measure the awesome 6 foot depth. I dug 2 perfectly deep 6 feet by 2" diameter holes and he didn't measure them!!! O well, at least i know they're the real deal.
There will be more boring assed balcony discussion to come, you can bet your bottom beam on that.
So this year, the main plan was to get er done. I started early on researching and discussing with an experienced friend of mine exactly "how" i was going to do it. I went through a few basic structures and ideas:
In the end, i settled on a no stair, but extended balcony that is NOT supported by the structure underneath. Basically if it was, it would of required engineer's help to verify the integrity of that structure, and that structure was highly suspect. The previous owner did an "ok" job on everything done, and i just didn't trust it.
So late last year i realized if i was going to build a balcony up there, i should probably ensure that the roof was good. Because it would really suck to have to tear down the balcony to fix a leaky roof. And the roof was already leaky. So i had the roof replaced. Which was not cheap, but at least i trust it now. Its properly flashed all around, and is in good shape. Earlier this year, i also decided to have eavestrophing installed on the roof above the door. That part of the roof is the lowest point so a lot of water attracted down that wall, and would be onto the roof, causing more water issues. I thought that was a good idea, and i'm happy with the result.
Then came the building permit. From conception and farting around on the city of ottawa's web site to issuance, it was many months. But i got it in the end.
The problem with the building permit, is the plans. The application itself is nothing, but it must be accompanied by plans of what you're going to do. Which makes sense. But is not trivial. I do believe you can get home depot and/or rona type stores to do plans for you for "free", but i kinda wanted to do this all myself. As i said i have a friend who helped conceptualize what the thing would look like, and then i just needed a tool to put it together. In retrospect i would have been MUCH easier to have someone else do it, but i was stubborn and like doing things myself so i understand them.
Enter Google Sketchup. Is there anything google can't do? I mean this tool is amazing. In a nutshell, its a layman's CAD tool. You can design pretty much anything in it, and if you really want to, import it into google earth (which apparently has a flight sim built into it, but i haven't tried it). So if you design a house or a building, you can plop it down in the googleverse and see what it looks like. I have not done this. But what i did do, was design the whole thing in sketchup, as well as site and floor plans where necessary.
The end result is pretty sweet. After quite a few hours i developed a model of the entire balcony including every piece of lumber to be used, proper angles, railing, etc.. I thought this was a much cleaner idea than drawing up some crappy sketches that would no doubt need to be updated during the permit talks. And i was right about that!
Getting the building permit was quite an ordeal. Once the drawings were done and i had filled out the application, here's a summary of how it went down:
1) Show up at city hall on a friday morning.
2) No lineup, ask to submit an application for a building permit.
3) The lady looks it over, tells me it'll be 80 odd dollars, and calls the dude from the back.
4) The dude spends a few minutes looking it over, and takes issue with a few points. My footings were not deep enough (originally i had 4 foot holes, they needed to be 6 feet), and i needed to properly quote building code sections for the blocking and railing, or have a proper diagrams that showed screws and specifics.
5) I asked where i can see the building code
6) He said it was for sale "over there".
7) I said gee thanks.
8) I then thought about it, and decided to go to the library. They did not have the 2006 building code, but they had the 1997 + amendments.
9) I spent some serious time going through all the different schematics coming up with a now different railing plan. The lady at the library was very nice as i didn't have my card, but let me borrow one of their photocopy cards, and i just payed what i spent when i left. How trusting!!!
10) I choose a model i liked, made photo copies of all the appropriate sections, and went home.
11) I then updated my model with the footing adjustments and changes to the blocking and railing, printed it off again, and went back.
12) They accepted the application!!! Yay!!! I paid the 80 odd dollars.
13) About 6 business days later, i get an email from someone at the city that was assigned to my application. It contained a pdf of issues, which included, among a few other things, that the photocopies from the old building code needed to be from the 2006 building code. Arg!!!
14) I bought the damn 2006 building code. 150$. Now i'll have it forever. Or at least until 2012 when a new one comes out and this one becomes useless reference material.
15) I made photocopies of the newly revised sections, which looked to be identical to me, and now proceeded to communicate with this nice lady via faxes and emails.
16) We sorted out the remainder of the issues over the next week and a half, mostly to do with floor plans, and "is it a fire exit", etc..
17) Roughly a month after the initial application, i was back at city hall signing the real permit. I got my original plans and faxes stamped, and a sheet to put up on my window saying i'm a wicked permit holder.
All in all it wasn't a horrible experience, and i understand why the back and forths occurred, and i understand why you need to quote from the new building code, but they really should make the building codes available for perusal at city hall. That part is ridiculous.
Once i had the permit i was assigned an inspector. I discussed with him what inspections i need. I needed an excavation, framing, and final inspection. I have had the excavation inspection, and it went very smoothly - he didn't even measure the awesome 6 foot depth. I dug 2 perfectly deep 6 feet by 2" diameter holes and he didn't measure them!!! O well, at least i know they're the real deal.
There will be more boring assed balcony discussion to come, you can bet your bottom beam on that.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
patch day 1
So i've decided to quit smoking. Like really quit. None of this smoke sometime, and not others. I've been debating for a while, and decided to give it a kick.
In order to "setup for success", i've got the patch. I'm not a heavy smoker, so i'm starting on nicoderm, stage 2. I was told by my doctorb to hit that for 2 weeks, then stage 3 for two more weeks after that.
I put my first patch on this morning. Within five minutes i was buzzin like crazy. All morning i was on a massive rush, this stuff is addictive man!!!! I took the patch off a few hours ago cause i didn't want the "vivid dreams" the box suggested were a possibility... it also suggested "insomnia", so probably not.
The day was fine... one day, not a problem. A week or two will be tricky. 1 year is what will be tough. I figure, one day at time.
Yay exercise!!! And being able to taste food again, that'll be sweet.
In order to "setup for success", i've got the patch. I'm not a heavy smoker, so i'm starting on nicoderm, stage 2. I was told by my doctorb to hit that for 2 weeks, then stage 3 for two more weeks after that.
I put my first patch on this morning. Within five minutes i was buzzin like crazy. All morning i was on a massive rush, this stuff is addictive man!!!! I took the patch off a few hours ago cause i didn't want the "vivid dreams" the box suggested were a possibility... it also suggested "insomnia", so probably not.
The day was fine... one day, not a problem. A week or two will be tricky. 1 year is what will be tough. I figure, one day at time.
Yay exercise!!! And being able to taste food again, that'll be sweet.
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